I was out in the backyard yesterday and noticed a lot of water standing. It seems my pond's little stream has changed course. We have had a LOT of rain this winter and the outlet stream from my catfish pond has silted up so the water found a easier path. Instead of the old straight back path it now wants to cut across the yard . Water never runs the way you want it to go unless you guide it . It has been 5 years since I dug the channel out so it looks like I get to add it t my TO-DO list . This time I think I will put in a 8 inch pipe and a brick lined culvert wall to guide it from the pond.
In the past I just shoveled it till it flowed where I wanted it to go because it was cheap . Now that I am older it is time to make it a long term fix. A pipe should do the job for 20 years at least, the cost will be 100$ or so . I hope it can wait till May or June I don't want to have to dig a 100 foot muddy ditch in cold weather.
I am not one to discuss politics but this caught my attention .
http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/good-for-you-donald-trump-calls-for-audit-the-fed/
It is worth a read regardless of who your leaning towards.
A few weeks back I wrote I would NOT vote for R. Richard Shelby a 6th term in the senate. But with a supreme court nomination pending and him chairman of the Senate judiciary committee I have changed my mind. Like the old saying "better the devil you know".
Let me preface this "it wasn't Me"! This weekend I was talking to a kid I know (ok he is 33 now and owns his own business but I knew him since 16 when he was a shithead) about hauling that trailer to the scrap yard, he has a wrecker service. He said no problem and asked where is it I told him off so and so, down a dirt road about 1/2 mile . At that he said on the right in the curve above the creek? YEA I just bought the 2 acres on the right how the hell do you know about it. He asked if I had been past the gate "no" he went on that so and so and state senator ____ had a member only hunting club out in the woods he and his partner were members.
Now this is an innocent conversation by its self BUT I have known him and his business partner for years . Both are of a prepper mindset . My friend told me last year if thing go bad he was going to hit the woods he had bunkhouse a pond , good hunting and friends to ride it out with.
Neither statement would have compromised OPSEC but by making them to one person months/years apart it told me to much. Not that I will ever mention or give them away. I never said what I had bought the 2 acres for . I already suspected a compound was beyond that gate . Now I know members include LEOs, business owners , rednecks and former military. It seems if I make this place my BOL I will be the "GATEKEEPER" for a large well financed MAG . I have mixed feeling on the place now . If I proceed it will be independent of the group but I would be open to a radio link if needed.
Awhile back I had wrote about our granddaughter, her trailer and loan problems. Well she got her taxes back and made a bee line here and paid me for her camper/home. She also paid her Title loan off and deposited a thousand in a C D in case she needs a self funded loan during the year . I am proud of her she got back more than she expected and has used it wisely. She is debt free with money in the bank a place to live and her trailblazer is getting tuned and aligned. Now if she can find a boyfriend that WORKS she will be on the right road.
Today I sent off the check for the 2 acre BOL parcel. Monday was a holiday and yesterday I got that wood but also went and walked the property before I sent the check off. It has been 2 months since I walked it and winter has killed a lot of the growth back. I like it even more than before it has more clearable area than I thought and the driveway isn't as bad. Plus it has been wet so I got to see where it has water problems. It has a lot of seep springs and a few runoff channels that need attention but nothing hard to fix .
While I was their I checked the well it is a 4 inch well with a shallow draw pump . I didn't open the top to see how deep the water is but I think its under 50 foot. I have no plans to use the well for my BOL it is nice to have especially because its shallow and could refill the cisterns I plan on having. I am looking forward to this place next summer after my other projects are ended.
This is my place and will be built and stocked how I think is needed as a sustainable BOL. It will be solar powered with dry toilet, lots of perennial plantings, wood heat, root cellar, raincachment, and solar hot water. My wife may love it or hate it but I want to try and combine 1800 homesteading with modern green technology. In a secluded location at low cost with a minimum amount of consumable input's needed . It is not going to be where live but it will be a place I get away and spend time . I want to develop it in a way where if I had to survive all it would take is chickens, rabbits and garden . I did find out from the neighbor that wild hogs are becoming a problem. :)
The rain stopped so today we went over to my daughters property . One end of her trailer was cut off because it was to far gone. Me and my son saved a lot of the wall studs saving us about 80$ and used them there. Today we cut loose and cleaned up 14 2 X8X14 that made up the floor on the scraped end. Tomorrow we will carry them to my son's place to use in the kitchen floor.
It only took about 3 hours to remove and clean them to reuse. Now it was 2 of us working but at 16$ each x 14 it save's us 224$ so on 6 man hours we made / saved over 35$ an hour. I don't know if we will get the floor joist in tomorrow but they will be on site.
I like to do savings to work hours . If you made 8.50 an hour and brought home 7.25 our saving = 30 hour at work pay. So we saved/ made 5 times pay . I look at life different.
Today I worked on my son's place removing 3 layers of wood and linoleum in the kitchen. We wanted to see the floor joists. What we found was almost nothing, they were rotted to dirt. His kitchen is a 14 x 14 hole with dirt 2 foot below. We will beam and joist it next week then lay 3/4 in osb .
When we got home my daughter had got a quote back from the state on a 10 acre parcel for 3,100 $. We may or may not get this one even at the price of 310$ an acre it is steep hillside and little flat. I am going to have the timber appraised before I buy. If it will show a profit I will borrow the money to buy it. It could have 12000$ in timber but I am no timber man.
After I looked at her quote I went to read my E mail and I had one back also. Mine was a shock it was the 2 acre's I wrote about for a B.O.L. The state wants a whopping 732$ :) for it . I sent the request on 11/30/15 and got it back today for the state that's quick . I posted about it here http://garyinbama.blogspot.com/2015/11/i-found-my-bol.html In that post I had guestimated the old freight trailer at 10,000 pounds but a friend saw it and he said that model will be 15 to 18,000 pounds because its an old atlas moving trailer with a low belly and grandma attic. He said I would get 14 to 1600$ for it scrap. The certified check will be mailed Monday !!!!!
My friend that saw the trailer is a junk buyer but he also has heavy equipment. I want to trade the old trailer for 800$ and him to clear the bramble and recut the drive to the top and drag the H&H 12x20 shed to where I need it. Basically it will be 800 cash and under 2 hours on a Bobcat . He gets a better price due to volume than I could so I think he will take it.
Today my son took our dog Tank to be put down . He was my buddy. He started as my son's dog then was passed to my daughter but the whole time he was my Buddy and the biggest food beggar god ever gave 4 leg's. He loved biscuits for breakfast actually the only thing he wouldn't eat was grapes. I couldn't take him to be put down even though he was hurting it wasn't in me. Tank was fine 3 weeks ago then we found 2 knot's in his neck. I gave him a round of antibiotics for a week but I knew it was lymphoma.
He will be missed.
The last time I posted on the trailer I still had a few sheets of roofing to install. We got that done and the last 2 weeks we got electrical wiring run and it sheathed in . So it went from looking like this.
To looking a lot better and ready for doors and windows .
The gaps are for the door and windows. The bottom picture is from the drive way it has a large front yard.
Here is what the back looked like at 10 this morning .
This is what it ended up finished at 1.00 . We still need about 6 inches all around at the top then the corners and trim but it is now dried in , roofed and wired.
Next up will be the floor over laid with 3/4 tonged and groove OSB . Then the doors, windows and sheet rock walls.
Unless something unexpected happens the whole job May come in Under budget . The wiring was a lot cheaper than I planned but I still have to hire a licensed electrician to do the breaker box (I may try) and hook to the pole.
What can I say I like the confederate flag .
You got to love southern traditions .
Sorry I disappeared the last 4 days but while the weather was nice I took advantage. Friday and Saturday I did the BBQ and had a fair amount of sale's for the end of January . I finished up early afternoon Saturday and went to Lowe's for the trailers electrical and the outside sheathing. Long story short is I got it wired and it all works. Today we started at 9 and got the front of it sheathed with OSB and the windows cut out. I had hoped to have more of it sheathed but it was a slow start till we got it worked out. My son was played out when we got home, he is limping pretty bad. Guess tomorrow I will work alone on the end walls, when my son gets to this point it takes a couple of days for him to recoup. We are not use to 4 days straight of hard work . I would take tomorrow off but I have other business to take care of Wednesday and Thursday so I will rest then, sort of. If the rain holds off till tomorrow late afternoon I will have some pictures of the place, this has made a big change.
